Progress in network orchestration research and future prospects: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose Network orchestration has received widespread attention from scholars engaged in network-relationship governance research. This study aims to explore progress in network orchestration research and future prospects. Design/methodology/approach In this study, 105 articles related to network orchestration from the Web of Science Core Collection Database for the period 2006–2022 are collected as sample data, and bibliometric relationship maps of network orchestration research are visually presented using the CiteSpace software. Findings First, this study presents distributions of articles, methods, journals, authors, institutions and countries/regions in network orchestration research. Second, based on a reference co-citation analysis, three articles are identified as the key literature in network orchestration research. Based on a keyword co-occurrence analysis, the hotspots are found to include studies related to overall network and individual levels. A cluster analysis reveals six themes: innovation ecosystem, sustainable development, product development, sourcing, hub firm and innovation network. From a burst detection analysis, three frontiers emerge: organisation, collaboration and governance. Finally, some future research directions are proposed and important issues are raised. Originality/value This study is the first to reveal the progress of network orchestration research using quantitative bibliometric methods, and it provides insights to scholars and offers practitioners with a better understanding of network orchestration.